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CMS advises sphera on acquisition of thinkstep

08/08/2019

Hamburg – sphera, a global provider of integrated risk management software and information services focusing on environmental health & safety, operational risk and product stewardship, has signed an agreement with the shareholders of thinkstep AG to acquire all the shares in the company. The sellers include Gimv and a group of shareholders from the company’s management team. In acquiring thinkstep, sphera is seeking to expand its global reach and better serve its worldwide customer base. The transaction is still subject to various closing conditions, in particular approval from the merger control authorities. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

An international CMS team headed by partners Dr Hilke Herchen and Jan Graf von Spee advised sphera on all legal aspects of the transaction, with IT law being a key component. The team also worked with the in-house Smart Operations unit and coordinated other teams from CMS Italy and local law firms in Japan, India and Denmark. US law firm Vedder Price, which brokered the contact to sphera, was responsible for the US, UK and Canadian aspects of the transaction under the lead of partner Adam Lewis.

thinkstep AG operates internationally and is based in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, near Stuttgart. Established in 1991, the company provides software and consulting services that help companies to manage sustainability and reduce their environmental footprint. It operates in three business areas. In Corporate Sustainability, the firm introduces and implements sustainability processes. Product Sustainability involves taking environmental aspects into account in the development phase and incorporating them into the subsequent product management and manufacturing processes. The thinkstep Product Compliance solution enables compliance and reputation risks to be identified and reduced at an early stage.

CMS Germany

Dr Hilke Herchen, Lead Partner
Jan Graf von Spee, Lead Partner
Laura Moosleitner, Senior Associate
Omed Asmatyar, Associate, all Corporate/M&A
Jürgen Siemers, Partner
Sünye Akay, Associate, both Labor, Employment & Pensions
Tatjana Teterjukov, Associate, Commercial
Dr Markus Häuser, Partner
Dr Malte Grützmacher, Partner
Dr Markus Kaulartz, Counsel
Martin Kilgus, Senior Associate
Dr Fiona Savary, Associate, all Technology, Media & Communications
Dr Hans Fabian Kiderlen, Counsel, Real Estate & Public
Petra Goldenbaum, Counsel, Intellectual Property
Christoff Henrik Soltau, Partner
Dr Bernd Neuthor, Associate, both Competition & EU
Birgit Wagner, Senior Legal Consultant
Fazila Ahmad, Legal Consultant
Stephen Washington, Legal Consultant, all Smart Operations

CMS Italy

Dietmar Zischg, Partner
Francesco Sabatino, Counsel
Giulia Camilli, Counsel
Alessandro Sassone, Associate

India

Khaitan & Co

Japan

City Yuwa

Denmark

Bech Bruun

Press Contact
presse@cms-hs.com

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